On Saturday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to USC on the road by a final score of 85-75. USC guards Boogie Ellis (33 points & 7 assists) and Drew Peterson (21 points) went off for the Trojans, combining for 9-15 shooting from 3-point range between them. Stanford forward Harrison Ingram was the top performer for the Cardinal with 15 points and 9 rebounds. USC improves to 19-8 overall and 11-5 in the Pac-12 while Stanford falls to 11-16 overall and 5-11 in the Pac-12.
BOX SCORE: Stanford MBB at USC
Stanford got off to a strong start, leading 5-0 after five quick points from Spencer Jones and 9-2 after a couple of buckets inside from Brandon Angel. Stanford came out with the right intensity and execution early and they were rewarded for it. With 16:26 to go in the first half, the Cardinal were looking good.
After back-to-back threes from Peterson and Ellis, the Trojans were on a 6-0 run and it was now a 9-8 game with 14:36 to go in the half. USC was quickly back in it. Stanford would then respond to lead 15-9 with 12:44 to go in the half after a foul shot from Michael O’Connell, a bucket inside from Michael Jones, and a 3-pointer from Max Murrell. But then, Peterson and Ellis responded with back-to-back threes to make it 15-15 with 10:47 to go in the half. The Trojans just would not go away.
With 7:27 to go in the half, USC led 25-17 as they were on an 8-0 run after a pair of threes from Boogie Ellis and Kobe Johnson as well as a dunk inside by Reese Dixon-Waters. Stanford was now in some trouble after getting off to a strong start in the opening part of the half.
With 6:25 to go in the half, Stanford had closed the gap to two points (25-23) after O’Connell and Ingram hit back-to-back threes of their own. This was turning into a back and forth game.
From then on, USC was able to slowly pull away to close the half. A second-chance 3-pointer by Angel made it a two-point game (30-28) with 2:36 to go until halftime, but from there USC was able to close the half on an 11-2 run to lead 41-30 at halftime. Six of those 11 points came from Ellis, who knocked down a couple more threes.
At halftime, Ellis (15 points) and Peterson (11 points) had combined for 26 points, really giving the Trojans an amazing scoring punch, especially from the perimeter as they were shooting 7-11 from deep. As for Stanford, Angel was leading the way with 7 points on 3-4 shooting from the field and 1-2 shooting from deep.
Stanford got off to a strong start in the second half as the Cardinal opened up the half on a mini 4-0 run courtesy of a second chance jump hook off the glass from Spencer Jones and a jumper in the paint from Angel. This made it a 41-34 game with 17:55 to go. Then, USC responded with four points of their own to lead 45-34 with 16:45 to go thanks to a layup from Vincent Iwuchukwu and a second chance jumper from Joshua Morgan.
Stanford would once again make it a seven point game as Harrison Ingram made a pair of free throws after which Maxime Raynaud had a dunk inside. But then, the Trojans’ lead would return to double digits after a 3-pointer from Peterson. 48-38 USC lead with 14:40 to go.
After a couple of 3-pointers from Dixon-Waters, USC led 58-45 with 10:23 to go. Stanford was basically treading water at this point. Every time they cut into the Trojans’ lead; the Trojans found a way to respond.
With 5:09 to go, Ingram made a 3-pointer to shave the Trojans’ lead to 12 points only for Ellis to respond with a 3-pointer to make it a 15 point lead again (72-57) with 4:45 to go. It was just that kind of night.
In the end, USC walked out with an 85-75 victory. Stanford did actually win the second half. The problem is it was only by one point (45-44). Stanford battled hard the entire game, but just didn’t have an answer for Peterson and especially Ellis from the perimeter.
For USC, this is a nice win to get. Stanford has turned a new leaf in the second half of the season and is one of the more dangerous teams in the league. Dangerous because they’re playing much better than their overall record suggests. Many have put Stanford in the camp of being a sleeper to possibly win the Pac-12 tournament.
As for Stanford, this loss is a disappointment, but one they can learn from. They hadn’t seen USC all season and hopefully for them if they’re able to see USC again in the Pac-12 tournament they’ll be able to make the proper adjustments. It’s all about positioning themselves to possibly win the Pac-12 tournament and take whatever lessons they can from the remaining regular season games.
Up next for Stanford will be a home game against Washington State on Thursday. That will tip off at 8:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.
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